What did you do to your F10, F11 or F07 today?

[Steve84N]

That's basically what Alpina do, take an SE and stick on a splitter. 

[skyjawa]

Yeah thats right. There’s a really useful post on the other 😉 forum that shows pics of all the different options which helped me choose.

Really funny as took the lad out for cinema and dinner, parked up and just a few rows away was a car identical to how mine looked the day I picked it up, even same colour, so could get a decent comparison 🙂

Edited October 27, 2023 by skyjawa

[Cadwell Parker]

After a particularly cack-handed attempt at jacking the car the other week I had to replace one of my jack points. It's not obvious how to get the old ones out until you see the clips on the new one.

Only a few basic tools required to apply a little force in the right place to snap the clips and loosen the whole thing enough to be manoeuvred out of the car.

I used my trolley jack to push the new part on from below. It's not easy to get the clips to engage using muscle power alone.

 

[Steve84N]

Finally found a petrol 6WA cluster for a decent price that has been 'virginised' back to zero mileage. I will be using the same person who fitted & coded my M5 seats to do the requisite coding required. 

I test drove an LCI 535i with these clocks and loved how they look, especially in the daytime. The extra info it can display over the basic version is also handy. For me, it's the perfect blend between analogue and digital, I actually prefer them over the 6WB cluster that seems more popular. It's usefully cheaper than 6WB too. 

Fitted it into the car quickly and it is indeed reset ready to be recoded. Couldn't see the ENET connection on my laptop this evening so will have to try again with the engine running tomorrow.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Steve84N

[Kopfjaeger]

I received a parcel of parts today from Taiwan. Intercooler piping in aluminium to replace the OEM factory versions.  Upgrading for PPM, not performance. It's going to be fiddly and require the intercooler to be removed. I might change that out too for an enhanced version. I might rent a ramp for the day  when the weather is warmer🤣.  Anyone know what lubricant to use on the seals?

[Andrew]

13 hours ago, Kopfjaeger said:

 Anyone know what lubricant to use on the seals?

 

LL04!

Removing the intercooler is relatively straightforward should be very similar in you car 

But fitting the new seals tested my patience.

Would be a lot easier off the car which is what you will be doing. 

[Kopfjaeger]

8 hours ago, Andrew said:

LL04!

Removing the intercooler is relatively straightforward should be very similar in you car 

But fitting the new seals tested my patience.

Would be a lot easier off the car which is what you will be doing. 

Thanks  some preassembly would be done  but Newtis, is clear that connections can't be made without lubrication and it didn't say which.  All the seals have been predicted to the pipes, so I'd only have to lubricate what I can see...no point taking the seals out......Youtube videos suggest up to 4 hours to do.  I'm sure I'd take that long, as I would want to be careful. I dont want to break any of the connectors for sensors.

If I take out the intercooler, it makes sense to fit an uprated one to improve efficency...plus it might give up to 10% more performance (Son wouldn't complain🤣!).  But which.....hard to ascertain which would be best. I'm not interested in a competition version, but I've seen them for anywhere between £200 for a Chinese 'generic' for an F series / N55 and between £300 and £400 for a Masata performance version.

[Andrew]

@Steve84N is the man for intercooler upgrade advice 

[Steve84N]

Unless you're going to remap the engine I wouldn't bother getting a bigger intercooler. You only trouble the standard one with repeated hard driving in warm conditions, doesn't really happen on the road. 

The standard one comes out easily, the hardest part is the tricky clips. The aftermarket ones don't have a choice of size, they just make them as big as physically possible. That means they are an absolute pig to get in because there is no spare wiggle room. Furthermore, it protrudes up into the radiator packs and wants to slide straight up, but it can't due to the bracket. In the end I had to loosen off the whole radiator assembly to allow the angle for it to go in. 

Having gone from Stage 2+ (around 400hp and 450lb/ft) back to stock now I've had a new engine still under the break in period, I do find the standard power lacking, as I did when I bought the car. You can do a Stage 1 MHD remap without any hardware changes and that takes it to around 340hp and near 400lb/ft. It made a big difference to the enjoyment of the car and is what I intend to do again. 

In short, unless you drive hard for long stints at a time and/or are going to remap it then save yourself the heartache. 

[Kopfjaeger]

@Steve84N Thanks for the info. As I migrated from 165HP in my previous Car to 306HP, I'm more than happy with the stock option.  I've no intention of mapping or other modifications. I'll let my kids worry about that kind of upgrade when I pass it on. Although  if in about 6 years a 4 wheel drive electric refit option is cost effective...I wouldn't say No to 400-50HP......more than enough for London traffic🤣.

[Steve84N]

Definitely keep it stock then. You also have to declare a bigger intercooler on your insurance and invariably it's a manual process to get it agreed, plus it can increase your premium. 

[Andrew]

3 hours ago, Kopfjaeger said:

Although  if in about 6 years a 4 wheel drive electric refit option is cost effective..

[Steve84N]

Thanks to the wonders of TeamViewer the 6WA cluster has now been remotely coded and is all working. Much nicer. 

[Andy5150]

On 07/11/2023 at 16:29, Steve84N said:

Much nicer. 

Looks great @Steve84N! Nice job. I’m pretty sure this is the same as the cluster in my Luxury. I love it and agree it’s a nice halfway house between the more ‘basic’ set and the full digital. Then again, I don’t really have any comparison to make as this is just what happened to had been specced by the first owner of my F11.

Like rhe F10/F11 in general, it still looks pretty modern even today

[Steve84N]

The basic dials don't light up in the day, the numbers are just printed. Also, the digital screen only goes from the middle across to the right dial. Gives you the live mpg bar and onboard computer info in less fancy writing in the middle. 

[Andy5150]

3 minutes ago, Steve84N said:

The basic dials don't light up in the day, the numbers are just printed. Also, the digital screen only goes from the middle across to the right dial. Gives you the live mpg bar and onboard computer info in less fancy writing in the middle. 

Ah, so it’s different to mine after all. My dials backlight white during the day and the lovely BMW orange at night. My screen goes the full width however but does indeed look very similar to your pics even though it’s slightly different by the sound of it. 

[Steve84N]

@Andy5150 my last post was about the basic ones I've just replaced. Now I have what you've got, backlit white during the day and full width screen. 👍🏻

[Andy5150]

22 hours ago, Steve84N said:

backlit white during the day and full width screen

Looks really classy backlit during the day but I have to say, of all the brands of car I’ve had, nothing beats the red that BMW use for night time. I assume/hope the G series still use that colour and indeed, with the full-on LCD screens for all the latest models I’d hope there’s a nice red option amongst all the fancy options.

[Steve84N]

There's way too much screen in the latest cars, I was looking to turn mine off driving in the dark earlier. First drive with the 6WA clocks and I love it. The blacks are so inky and the numbers clearer, red to be easy on the eyes but with white detailing. 

[Andy5150]

1 minute ago, Steve84N said:

There's way too much screen in the latest cars, I was looking to turn mine off driving in the dark earlier. First drive with the 6WA clocks and I love it. The blacks are so inky and the numbers clearer, red to be easy on the eyes but with white detailing. 

Couldn’t agree more @Steve84N. If I was being super picky, the one thing I wish the lcd would show was the DAB station data, not just the name, but the track playing etc. I’m sure there’s enough room over there on the right.

Then again, what I’d REALLY like is for the main drive to actually show the station name artwork for DAB stations, not the generic Rock/Classical/Jazz picture. It seems to have been designed with the intention of doing so and maybe years ago it did but certainly it never shows the station artwork for anything I listen to now, BBC or independent. Strange….

[Steve84N]

Would be nice, I've sort of solved that by fitting a box to run Android Auto on the main screen.

[Andy5150]

9 hours ago, Steve84N said:

I've sort of solved that by fitting a box to run Android Auto on the main screen.

Nice - it’s a good quality screen so I imagine AA or CarPlay would look good on it. 

[Steve84N]

@Andy5150yep it's perfectly useable.

[Andrew]

Showing your age there @Steve84N with that choice of music. 😆

[Steve84N]

I knew it was a risk posting that but my username sort of gives it away... My taste is varied, anything from the 80s onwards really.